Author Topic: New iStockphoto web design - IT'S LIVE! (Read 62913 times)

vonkara · « **Reply #175 on:** August 08, 2010, 17:12 »

Quote from: gostwyck on August 08, 2010, 12:27

Quote from: louoates on August 08, 2010, 11:16
My first reaction to the new site was I thought I stumbled upon a funeral web site.
Deadly dull.

Yes it does! Maybe it's a tribute to our dead sales (which are probably about to nose-dive even further).

That's a nice coincidence isn't it. I hope their new "more buyer oriented" design will resolve all buyers issues with buying images. It look like they have a lot of difficulty lately...

lefty · « **Reply #176 on:** August 08, 2010, 17:16 »

Quote from: gostwyck on August 08, 2010, 05:43

If I'm honest I really dislike what they've done and much prefer the original (with Istock blue banners). Change isn't always good or necessary __ even on the internet. When the first cars were designed about 100 years ago they worked out that the best number of wheels was 4 and they were best placed one at each corner. Other designs have been tried since but they just didn't work as well.

ha!ha! funny but true. Why they spend money for old site work so good? Maybe best to save the programming fee
and give the saving to extra commission to you and me.

Digital66 · « **Reply #177 on:** August 08, 2010, 21:37 »

Quote from: ap on August 07, 2010, 23:34

i hate staring at the same number all day, every day.

Hope we have a good Monday. Otherwise, it will be better to cover the number with a piece of adhesive tape.

borg · « **Reply #178 on:** August 09, 2010, 02:38 »

Now most of microstock sites look the same... Black tape on top with logo and white background...

hoi ha · « **Reply #179 on:** August 09, 2010, 02:56 »

It's Ok - i have no major problems with it - a lot of blank space but perhaps that is the trend - it will take some getting used to from a navigation point of view but we will all adjust I assume. I was hoping for something a little more unique from a design point of view to be honest - it looks like so many other sites out there - one big positive is it it seems like we will not have to sign in and out a hundred times a day for so-called security reasons ... I have been signed in for over 24 hours now - fingers crossed that sticks for a few days.

ShadySue · « **Reply #180 on:** August 09, 2010, 04:06 »

I seem to have to make more clicks to be able to do the things I've always done. But I'm not a buyer; hopefully that doesn't apply also to buyers' workflow.
A lot of 'search' features are either unimproved from before or worse. That will impact buyers. :-(

hoi ha · « **Reply #181 on:** August 09, 2010, 04:30 »

I just went to Thinkstock and it's essentially the same design ... so I guess this is a Getty brand look. That's a shame - I still wish IS would be more independent.

rubyroo · « **Reply #182 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:16 »

Is there any way to see when someone rated your image? I see my ratings count go up, and then I want to look at the rater's port to reciprocate if I see something wonderful in their own work - but I end up having to trawl through my rated images and try to remember if I've already reciprocated previously. Am I missing something here?

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #183 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:37 »

Quote from: hoi ha on August 09, 2010, 04:30

I just went to Thinkstock and it's essentially the same design ... so I guess this is a Getty brand look. That's a shame - I still wish IS would be more independent.

That's what I thought too. Not identical but the coloring and design elements are pretty similar.

dirkr · « **Reply #184 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:40 »

Quote from: rubyroo on August 09, 2010, 06:16

Is there any way to see when someone rated your image? I see my ratings count go up, and then I want to look at the rater's port to reciprocate if I see something wonderful in their own work - but I end up having to trawl through my rated images and try to remember if I've already reciprocated previously. Am I missing something here?

Don't know about the Istock website, but Deepmeta shows ratings in chronological order...

rubyroo · « **Reply #185 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:42 »

Arhar!! Dirkr!! Thank you sooo much. I didn't realise that. Brilliant. Have a heart on me

sharpshot · « **Reply #186 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:44 »

Similar to thinkstock but also BigStock and 123rf. I think they are all just trying to avoid using colours that can change the look of images. That's not a bad idea but it makes the websites look bland. They should use their old colour schemes but have an option for the buyers to just use neutral shades of black white and grey if that is what they want.

ichiro17 · « **Reply #187 on:** August 09, 2010, 08:08 »

The website is crap...none of the layouts load properly on the 4 different computers I've tried, and nothing looks good. Its confusing and they spent a year+ just changing the colours of a site that worked well already. Silly, just silly

Eireann · « **Reply #188 on:** August 09, 2010, 10:44 »

Design wise I would say it's OK.
Nothing special though.
It lacks a certain designer feel to it, an exclusive, careful touch to separate it from the hundreds of similars out there. No personality and it looks more like a ready made template, but it's OK, we can live with it, as long as it is easier to use.
(Out of all the micro sites, only Veer Maketplace home page used to be different. Designer talent at work. No sales though).

My question is - has anyone tried to upload an image via the new web site yet?
Do we still have to go through all those preliminary steps, clicks and pages?
The scrolling windows in categories, are they still there?
And what about vector illustrations?
Can we finally retrieve metadata/keywords/ descriptions for vector files?
No blank pages anymore?
Bugs? Errors? Killed once and for all?
That would be lo-ve-ly!
I guess I'll have to give it a try and hope for the best.

borg · « **Reply #189 on:** August 09, 2010, 12:53 »

Whole the time I was expecting total black background under images,frankly I was disappointed a bit, when I saw new layout in that video.... ...

lisafx · « **Reply #190 on:** August 09, 2010, 16:08 »

Quote from: alias on August 08, 2010, 14:50

Anyone who knows about big sites (which is probably most of us to some degree) will know that a new site is often much more about the structure and architecture than it is about the look and feel. And the stuff under the hood seems good so far. No major outages.

I absolutely agree. Although I am not crazy about the look of it, for all the reasons mentioned, I have to give them credit that there haven't been the kind of functionality and outage issues that have accompanied prior changes.

And I do think it was necessary to upgrade the architecture. Ever since the big V8 rollout years ago there have been frequent glitches and outages that suggest the underlying architecture was flawed.

Maybe now that they have (hopefully) a more stable platform, perhaps the cosmetic issues can be dealt with over time as they crop up.

ap · « **Reply #191 on:** August 09, 2010, 16:52 »

Quote from: Digital66 on August 08, 2010, 21:37

Hope we have a good Monday. Otherwise, it will be better to cover the number with a piece of adhesive tape.

yeah, it's finally changed! i love mondays. the buyers always come back with a vengence.

but i'll keep a piece of tape for the weekends since the number isn't going anywhere on the screen.

ap · « **Reply #192 on:** August 09, 2010, 17:07 »

@Eireann
regarding uploading, it's gotten much, much worse. there's even a thead on ss complaining about it. http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87820

Quote from: alias on August 08, 2010, 14:50

Anyone who knows about big sites (which is probably most of us to some degree) will know that a new site is often much more about the structure and architecture than it is about the look and feel. And the stuff under the hood seems good so far. No major outages.

well, if this whole redesign under the hood is not meant to improve contributors' lives (and it hasn't), then i'm really curioius whether it has indeed improved the buyers experience. any buyers, buyer/contributors out there who's checked out this new interface? is it working better for you?

SNP · « **Reply #193 on:** August 09, 2010, 23:53 »

I like the functionality of new site, its design and launch has happened fairly seamlessly, without any major, show-stopping bugs.

I hate the illustrations. they are ridiculous and out of place, and they take up valuable space. the site should be centered, not left-justified for the sake of those awful drawings. Sunday and Monday sales were normal, good even and my take on the best match mention is what Lisa said. I don't think they are referring to the algorithm. I haven't noticed any best match upheavals and I follow the placement of my files in best match pretty closely

FD · « **Reply #194 on:** August 10, 2010, 02:31 »

After working for a while with the new template, I have to agree with the critiques. The underlying functionality didn't change of course, only the navigation and the skin. It's just too spacious. I have to scroll much more. Less thumbs on a page. I CTRL- as much as I could (rendering the fonts in an ugly way, but still readable) but the old skin just gave more info on one screen without having to scroll too much and the fonts were still pleasing.

I also don't like the "friends" thing at all. It must be spill over from the whims of useless sites like Facebook. It's a creative network, so why just not call it like that?

Of course they won't change since they put too much effort in it and they hailed it as the next best thing next to the invention of the wheel. But I wish they had the old template back. I find myself going less and less to iStock and I wonder whether it will have the same effect on buyers.

I found a new name for the template:
iStockphoto's carpal syndrome template.

tdoes · « **Reply #195 on:** August 10, 2010, 07:21 »

This new layout is a bit easier to navigate than the last layout. I hated the last layout cause it took too long to find information that wasn't visible on the first page!

Hopefully the buyer experience is much improved.

borg · « **Reply #196 on:** August 10, 2010, 08:22 »

Since new site has started , my sales have fallen almost to zero...

Eireann · « **Reply #197 on:** August 10, 2010, 09:47 »

I tried to upload a vector illustration file using the new web site.
I'm actually upset by all this.

I cannot believe that IStock took 1 year to build their new site from ground up and the upload page (notoriously buggy) has, as a result, gotten worse.

Upload page - vector file
I refuse to believe that any designer (let alone an IStock designer) has tested this thing for even a second.
Things are floating freely. Nothing is aligned anymore. Clickable buttons are nothing but colored rectangles scattered seemingly at random.
All the tedious preliminary steps are still there. No improvement. It's not faster, it's not easier, if anything, it's harder.
Your metadata is lost. Blank pages is all you get.
No titles, no description, no keywords. Blank.
The scrolling windows in categories (who designs scrolling windows anymore? crappy to begin with) are endless and the scrolling goes on and on and on.
Same for keywords.
Don't click the " + " and " - " signs (expand and collapse). Waste of time, they don't work.
Out of all the sites I submit to, IStock's upload process is the worse.
By a long mile.

But this release was all about the buyers. Let's see.
Change is good. IStock is sexier. A new website is here. Please take the tour and see for yourself!
Click on 'Take the Tour' and you land on a page about an IPhone application of some sorts.
This is one of the most prominent links on their home page. It stands out and it's broken.
For 4 days.
It only takes a minute to fix a link. For some reason they won't do it.
Why is the 'Free image of the week' smaller in size? It doesn't align on the page.
Why an IPhone add at the top of IStock's home page? After all, the new site doesn't even support IPhone. Why put it there?
Where is the Advanced Search? Why can't I access it without having to perform a normal search first?
Where are the Lboxes?
And the newest uploads?
Why move them?
It took one year to come to this.
I'll be waiting for Phase 2.

sharpshot · « **Reply #198 on:** August 10, 2010, 10:29 »

Perhaps they increased the upload limits knowing that nobody will have the time to do all that scrolling

For the keyword "cornwall" they listed every place in Cornwall except the one in my photo. I might wait for them to fix it, new files aren't selling much at the moment. Nice to have lots of other sites to keep me busy, this must be driving the exclusives crazy.

cthoman · « **Reply #199 on:** August 10, 2010, 11:36 »

I really didn't think it took any longer to upload. Yeah, those extra keyword terms are annoying and not really necessary, but like most of the uploading process, I just turn my brain off and click on the buttons. Maybe, that is why they say uploading is a complicated process because you have to ignore all the extra garbage and just click the right buttons in a monotonous machine-like way.

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Author Topic: New iStockphoto web design - IT'S LIVE! (Read 62913 times)

vonkara

lefty

Digital66

borg

hoi ha

ShadySue

hoi ha

rubyroo

PaulieWalnuts

dirkr

rubyroo

sharpshot

ichiro17

Eireann

borg

lisafx

ap

ap

SNP

FD

tdoes

borg

Eireann

sharpshot

cthoman

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